The Argus reports:
Customers in the areas of Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, Pyecombe, Poynings, Fulking and Saddlescombe and surrounding areas are experiencing low pressure or no water supplies. .. Around 100 customers have already called reporting no water.
The Veolia Environmental Trust has awarded Pyecombe Church a grant of £20,000 towards installing new toilet facilities. The new toilets are part of a larger project that will also extend the church and install a new, modern kitchen.
An evening of chamber music on Friday 19th April, with a variety of songs performed by the Constanza Trio featuring John Walker, Jane Money, and friends from the Brighton Chamber Choir. Doors open at 7.00pm with the concert starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10 each and include nibbles and a glass of wine. Tickets can be purchased from Orion News in Hassocks or from Andrew Munday on 01273 566276 or email avmunday [at] yahoo [dot] com. The concert is in support of the Pyecombe Church Extension Project.
Over time the family had been able to purchase the farm and the size of the holding had been greatly increased. Six of the seven sons gradually left Silton once they had saved enough money to branch out on their own, leaving the youngest brother as tenant at Silton, until, at a later date, he was able to buy out his brothers. My father (Henry) married my mother Amy in 1920 and left the family farm in Dorset in the same year. At first Amy stayed behind while Henry moved to Sussex and rented a large farm of about 800 acres in Fulking called Perching Manor. This was in Crown ownership and later more land, adjoining the farm, belonging to Brighton Corporation, was rented. The land associated with these farms had become very run down and it took several years to return the land to good health. Amy came out to join her husband in 1922.
The Harris household in 1943. Front: Amy, Alban, Edwin, Susan, Henry. Behind: Brian, Adolfo Marine [POW], Henry, Carlo Mazon [POW], Geoffrey.
Henry won various scholarships first to Oxford and then to American Institutions. He later became a professor aged 23. He took out American citizenship and spent the rest of his working life teaching classics in the USA and Canada. He retired to Vancouver Island in British Columbia and died in March 2007.
A large part of the farm was on top of the Downs where there were cottages for the farm labourers and stabling for the horses. A large flock of sheep was maintained and the land was kept fertile by folding them over land that was used for growing turnips, swedes and various brassica crops.
When war was declared in 1939, farmers were pressed into increasing productivity. Perching became much more mechanised and the acreage put to the plough was increased. A greater variety of crops was grown, including flax, potatoes and other vegetables. Any land worked by hobby farmers that was considered unproductive was confiscated and handed to more efficient farmers for the duration of war. My father’s acreage was considerably increased by the scheme.
In 1942 three Italian POWs came and worked on the farm. They were billeted in the cellar at Perching Manor, which was a great help, as most of our young labourers had been called up. The Italians weren’t repatriated until 1947 and in the meantime we also acquired two German POWs who returned home in 1948. Before the Germans left we were allocated two Latvian displaced persons. One left for Canada after about 3 years, the other, Rudolf, remained at Perching for his entire working life.
The Harris family in the late 1950s. Seated at front: Amy, Henry, Susan. Seated behind: Alban, Brian. Standing at rear: Edwin, Henry, Geoffrey.
In 1950 my father formed a partnership between himself and four of his sons (Brian, Geoffrey, Edwin and Alban). The farm was considerably enlarged in the 1950s with the largest addition being a 250 acre farm purchased at Findon, along with another of 160 acres at Small Dole. By 1960 the Harris holding was in excess of 2000 acres, about half of which was owned by the family and the other half rented.
By this time our milking herd was long gone. It had to be disposed of because it had become too difficult to get staff willing to start very early in the morning and work a seven day week. Perching became an arable, sheep and beef farm, growing about 1000 acres of grain, mainly barley, and maintaining a flock of 1000 breeding sheep and a herd of 250 beef suckler cows. Most of the animals were fattened and then sold on.
Henry Harris died in 1961 aged 72 and his wife Amy in 1990 aged 96. Amy had lived at Perching Manor for sixty years.
Brian took over running Perching Manor Farm, as his brothers gradually branched out to run their own farms. Edwin went into sheep farming and is now retired. Alban (Shiner) has land at Pyecombe and Fulking and rears beef cattle.
Geoffrey Harris, 2007
[Copyright © 2013, Geoffrey Harris. This memoir first appeared in Anthony R. Brooks (2008) The Changing Times of Fulking & Edburton. Chichester: RPM Print & Design, pages 350-354.]
Editorial postscript: ill health forced Brian Harris to retire from farming in 2006. He died in July the following year and is buried in the churchyard at St. Andrew’s. His daughters took over running Perching Manor Farm.
Currently popular local history posts:
WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
TEMPORARY TRAFFIC REGULATION
A273 NORTHBOUND, PYECOMBE
NOTICE IS hereby given that in pursuance of the provisions of Section 14(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984, as amended, the use of
A273 Northbound, Pyecombe, at the approach to the junction with D157 London Road, is temporarily prohibited from 20.00hrs to 06.00hrs on the 25th, 26th and 27th March 2013, with the last closure ending at 06.00hrs on 28th March 2013.
This closure is necessary to allow for essential carriageway maintenance.
It is anticipated the works will be completed in 3 nights.
Emergency Vehicle access will be maintained at all times.
Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times.
Residential vehicular access will be maintained at all times.
The alternative route for traffic will be via the A23, A2300, A273 and vice versa.
This notice will be effective for a maximum of 5 days from the date given above.
Any queries about the effect of the closure on traffic using the highway please contact West Sussex County Council on 01243 642105.
Dated 11th March 2013
Geoff Lowry
Director for Communities & Infrastructure
Please report all non-urgent Neighbourhood Watch problems promptly to Sussex Police on 101 (15p per call). If you don’t report problems, the Police can’t tackle them! Log the incident reference number, plus date, that the Police will give you.
However – ‘Crime in Progress’ (even if it seems minor) call 999 – the staff are trained to check all the details with you, and also to decide how urgently a police/ fire/ ambulance response is required. If you are deaf, or speech impaired, you can text a mobile phone message describing the problem to 65999.
Our Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) is Anika Clough, who also covers Poynings, Pyecombe, etc. She can be contacted on 101, ext 22316, or on 07884-202596, or on anika.clough@sussex.pnn.police.uk.
It’s important to also report burglaries/damage to Richard Corner, on 219, together with incident ref and date. It helps me to link which crimes are related, and helps the Police catch the offenders.
If there’s any urgent news, I’ll post it on the PCC noticeboard, and fulking.net.
Richard Corner (219)
Frederic Festus Kelly was a senior Post Office official who purchased the rights to a London trade directory in 1835 and went on to become the most important 19th century publisher of commercial directories. A University of Leicester digital library project devoted to such directories observes that “Kelly’s success was based on the innovative content and formats of his publications. He championed the production of county and provincial directories covering all settlements in a given area. These provided a wealth of information about each place, often including a commercial, street and classified trades section. He also retained the title of Post Office Directory for some time, giving his publications an aura of officialdom.” There is an informative 1893 interview, “The Baedeker of Babylon” [PDF], with Kelly’s grandson about how the directories were compiled.
EDBURTON (anciently Eadburga’s Town) is a parish 4 miles east from Bramber Station on the Horsham and Shoreham section of the London, Brighton and South Coast railway, 10 north-west from Brighton and 53 from London, in the Horsham and Worthing division of the county, hundred of Atherington and Poynings, rape of Bramber, union and petty sessional division of Steyning, county court district of Brighton, and in the rural deanery of Hurst, archdeaconry of Lewes and diocese of Chichester.
The church of St. Andrew is of flint and stone, in the Early English style, and has a tower containing 3 bells: nine of the windows are stained: the font is of lead, and dates from 1180: the church was restored in 1878, at a cost of £1,573, and has 225 sittings. The register dates from the year 1559. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £320, with residence, in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and held since 1913 by the Rev. Edward Griffith Evans M.A. of Clare College, Cambridge, hon. O.F.
Lord Leconfield, who is lord of the manor, and the Crown are the principal landowners. The soil is green sand, clay and part gravel; subsoil, chalk and clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and potatoes. The area is 1,094 acres; rateable value, £735; population in 1911 was 114 in the civil and 302 in the ecclesiastical parish.
Letters through Small Dole. Upper Beeding is the nearest telegraph office. Poynings is the nearest money order office, 2 miles distant. Wall Letter Box near the church.
Public Elementary School (mixed), rebuilt in 1873, enlarged in 1883, for 75 children; Miss Averil Haigh, mistress.
- J. Clayton J, M.I.O.E. Clappers Lane
- Rev. Edward Griffith Evans M.A. (Hon. C.F.), Rectory
- Henry Harris, farmer, Perching Manor
- John Radcliffe Passmore, farmer, Edburton Farm
- John Powell, market gardener
- Walter Augustus Powell M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.Lond. physician & surgeon
FULKING, Folking or Faulking (in Domesday Fochinges), in the ecclesiastical parish of Edburton, was constituted a separate civil parish under the “Local Government Act of 1894.” It is about 4 miles east from Bramber station on the Horsham and Shoreham section of the London, Brighton and South Coast railway and 8 north-west from Brighton, in the Lewes division of the county, Steyning union and petty sessional division and Brighton county court district. The Crown is lord of the manor. The soil is green sand, clay and part gravel; subsoil, chalk and clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and potatoes. The area is 1,552 acres; rateable value, £1,546; the population in 1911 was 188.
Post Office: Percival Lucas, sub-postmaster. Letters through Small Dole, Sussex. Poynings is the nearest money order office, 1 mile distant. Pyecombe is the nearest telegraph office, 3 miles distant.
- Major Albert Adams, Old Farm House
- Robert Atkins, The Croft
- Mrs. Black
- Charles E. Clayton, Holmbush Lodge
- Laurence Clayton, Badger Wood
- Samuel Payne, Fulking House
- Duncan Sinclair, Hall Farm
COMMERCIAL
- Mrs. Maria Baldey, Shepherd & Dog Public House
- Thomas S. Hills, farmer and assistant overseer, Fulking Farm
- Percival Lucas, grocer, Post Office
- Arthur Pinker, farmer
- Joseph Robinson, farmer, Perching Sands
- Henry William Uridge, farmer
[All material transcribed, with minor formatting and punctuation changes, from pages 359, 360 and 373 of the 1922 edition of Kelly’s Directory for Sussex, published by Kelly’s Directories Ltd., London.]
Here are the original discussion notes from the Village Plan Working Party first published back in 2010. Things have moved on since then.
The Future Requirements of Fulking village?:-
Fulking is a unique and lovely rustic country village situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), of which there are not many left in Sussex, and now set in part of the South Down’s National Park.
Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) is urging all towns and villages to prepare a development plan for their own area looking ahead up to 2026. If we do not present a plan then MSDC will prepare one for us based on what they think we require, and all future Parish Councils will be required to work towards it. The Parish Council therefore feel it is important that the village produces its own plan for the future, rather than have one imposed by MSDC.
1) Enhance the conservation area of the Village
This can be achieved by removing all telephone poles and putting the cables underground (see also item 6) and perhaps in 2012 with the much stronger signal of Digital T.V. the aerials could be placed in the loft where practical.
2) Limiting the continual enlargement of Dwellings
Within the conservation area, enlargement to properties is often carried out by developers who then sell the property on within some two to five years. With enlarged homes comes the problem of increased numbers of family and then more cars parked in The Street and Clappers Lane . If an extension is allowed within the Conservation Area then it should be to the rear of the property and should not alter the appearance as seen from the road.
3) Embrace the new MSDC and National Park policy
NO new housing development in the National Park, except in very exceptional circumstances.
Clappers Lane should be made a quite lane by WSCC as it is now within the National Park and will be used by a lot more walkers, horse riders and cyclist.
4) The Sewerage Plant:
Must be brought up to the latest EU standards. This would prevent all the lush weed growth which then chokes up the stream, and also bring the discharged water quality up to the standard required to stop pollution of the River Adur and to some small degree, the sea in which we bathe.
5) Village Car Park
We need a Village car park to cater for visitors to the village, customers of the pub and walkers access to the Downs. The Car park must be a green parking area suitably screened to blend with the surrounding area.
6) Telephone and Broad Band System
Due to the increased potential to work at home and to allow any business to function efficiently, the telephone and broadband system must be greatly improved. We all know of the system’s slowness even though it is supposed to operate at 8Mb. Even with a direct line from the exchange to Manor Farm businesses, they are still experiencing many problems. This improvement should be possible if the villages of Poynings, Fulking, and Pyecombe all group together and push for early installation of the new 100Mb fibre optic system for which the government has given permission and which is to be installed all over England within two years (if you can believe this is possible!).
7) Village/Church Hall
A new hall will soon be required as the present one is falling apart due to woodworm and rot. Insulation against heat loss is non-existent as it was built 1902. The new government standards require disabled access and car parking so perhaps a new village hall could be built in the village car park. It should be built to modern standards and fitted with solar panels to reduce the hot water bills.
8) Affordable Housing
A very difficult subject. The main considerations are young people who have lived in the village all their life cannot afford to buy houses here, so they move away leaving their parents who often become unable to manage on their own. The parents are then forced to move away to nearby towns, their house is then sold and the chance to help their parents in old age, and another chance to live in the village is also lost.
9) The Chapel
When the old village hall is demolished, the Chapel, a feature of the village which is still in reasonable condition, should remain and there are several possibilities for its future if let out by the church; it could become a village tea room and small village shop; suitable small business such a firm of accountants, computer sales and repairs, a secretarial service; it could even be converted to living accommodation with an extension at the back. Such options would not alter or spoil the look of the conservation area, whereas to demolish the two buildings and build a new cottage/ house would spoil the rustic charm of the village and would look out of place.
10) Children’s Play Area
This part of the village has been a constant expense for all previous Parish Councils and it is costing the P.C. a lot of extra money. One major expense is the repeated topping up of the bark in the enclosure around the climbing frame. This needs to be replaced by a modern permanent safety material that does not require any maintenance.
11) Allotments
This is a recent issue started by the organic movement and the credit squeeze. There are only a few people who think they want an allotment as most are too busy today with family activities. TV, computers and other modern technology.
The solution that the P.C. therefore suggested is that if anyone has more garden than they need, the P.C would introduce them to a person wanting an allotment and let things takes their course.
These are The Parish Council’s thoughts for the future of the village and the start of the Village Plan.
The Parish Council would like to hear from anyone who has ideas they think should be included in this suggested plan, or indeed comments on items they do not agree with. Please reply to Paula Hazard The Parish Clerk, or to one of the Parish Councillors. Please have your say!! Your views can be expressed at the Parish Council meeting on Thursday 9 September 2010, 7.30pm at the Preston Nomads Cricket Club House. If indifference is shown, then it will be adopted as the official plan for Fulking and lodged with the MSDC.